elii: house of would, madrid

‘house of would’ by elii, madrid, spainimage © miguel de guzmanall images courtesy of elii

located on a sloping plot of land in pedrezuela, northern madrid, the ‘house of would’ by spanish firm elii is a photo album-cum-dwelling that captures the individual memories experienced by the client in separate structures throughout her life and compiles them into a new dwelling. built in just 21,600 minutes, the prefabricated modular house fits together like a giant erector set, with standard wooden panels and dry-mounted timber skeleton. one extreme is left almost unfinished, leaving the possibility for growth in the future. the dwelling is composed of seven symmetrically identical wood spaces connected by translucent bridges. the social spaces are located closer to the street on the higher section of the land, benefiting from view out over the landscape, while the private areas are allocated to the lower region of the property to be more closely connected to the environment and away from public view. the dwelling itself acts as more of a sculptural object, a tool that can be interacted with in many ways to write further chapters in the book of experiences. the inhabitable roof also collects water and directs it to the garden in the central courtyard which offers a private exterior space.

walkthrough of the housevideo © miguel de guzman

sitting on a sloping siteimage © miguel de guzman

unfinished wing allows or future growthimage © miguel de guzman

driveway and deckimage © miguel de guzman

perforated CMU retaining wallimage © miguel de guzman

angular wooden facadesimage © miguel de guzman

inhabitable roof as a sun-bathing areaimage © miguel de guzman

entryimage © miguel de guzman

translucent bridges connect individual wood structuresimage © miguel de guzman

living roomimage © miguel de guzman

image © miguel de guzman

translucent corridorimage © miguel de guzman

bird’s eye viewimage © miguel de guzman

green contextimage © miguel de guzman

image © miguel de guzman

message shines through the concrete perforationsimage © miguel de guzman

image © miguel de guzman

during constructionimage © miguel de guzman

site plan

floor plan / level 0

section

elevation

project info:

architects: elii – uriel fogué + eva gil + carlos palaciosteam: enrico forestiericlient: isabel rodríguez hurtadosurveyor: samuel escuderostructures: mecanismo s.l.mechanical: nieves plazaconstruction company: dionisio torralba construcciones; altermateria (structural wood)photography: elii (models); miguel de guzmán model: elii – enrico forestieri, blanca macarrón, sara castellote, iris artemisa espinosa, lucía useratotal area: 210,90m2start date: mayo 2011completion: julio 2012location: pedrezuela, madrid (spain)

elii [oficina de arquitectura] (5)